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need help upgrading 2007 MBP

N

ntbohl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 22, 2009
17
0
I got an old 15-inch 2.2ghz macbook pro (model MA895LL/A) from a friend and I am trying to get this thing running as well as I can make her without buying another mbp. I have a 2012 model win7 laptop w/ an i5, so It's not my primary machine, but it runs pretty well now and I'm thinking if I could get it a bit quicker then it could become my primary (I'd like to switch to MAC if I can, but I am NOT paying full price for one. I can get the specs of a $2000, mb for $850).

Anyway; I've seen that this model is spec'd for 4gb of RAM by apple, but many say it can handle 6 just fine, although the reliability of 6 is varying. I'd rather have 6, but if it's very unreliable, I guess I'll just stick with 4. I'm also curious about hard drives and anything else I can add. I don't know anything about hard drives so literally ANY info on how to increase any speed/performance/etc. from an upgraded hard drive would be appreciated.

I paid less than $100 for this MBP so I'm willing to put an additional $150-$200 into it if I can get some significant improvements.

Thanks to anyone that can give me some good tips!
 
I'm running it with 4gb of RAM. I ordered the Corsair CAS 4 low latency variety and threw in a 7200rpm HDD. It runs really well, though I imagine SSDs would be even better, but I'm not sure if they are in your total price range.
 
Here are the specs. for your system:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...k-pro-core-2-duo-2.2-15-santa-rosa-specs.html

You would need to add in a 4 GB module, here is a suggestion:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/5300DDR2S4GB/

As for HD, I would go with an SSD, another suggestion might be one of these:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/internal_storage/SSD/Mercury_Electra_3G_Solid_State

Although, you should be aware that your system contains the ill-fated nVidia 8600M GT video card and as mentioned several times on these forums, it is not a matter of IF it will fail, but WHEN it will fail.
 
prisstratton said:
Although, you should be aware that your system contains the ill-fated nVidia 8600M GT video card and as mentioned several times on these forums, it is not a matter of IF it will fail, but WHEN it will fail.
Click to expand...

Do you know for a fact that holds even for those logic boards that have been replaced? My logic board bummed out after 1.5 years, and the average death was after about 1 year of usage. Apple replaced it under warranty. Well, the new one has been just fine for 2.5 years now. You'd think if it was going to die, it would have, but maybe it's about to happen anyti..... now.
 
prisstratton said:
Here are the specs. for your system:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...k-pro-core-2-duo-2.2-15-santa-rosa-specs.html

You would need to add in a 4 GB module, here is a suggestion:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/5300DDR2S4GB/

As for HD, I would go with an SSD, another suggestion might be one of these:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/internal_storage/SSD/Mercury_Electra_3G_Solid_State

Although, you should be aware that your system contains the ill-fated nVidia 8600M GT video card and as mentioned several times on these forums, it is not a matter of IF it will fail, but WHEN it will fail.
Click to expand...

The enhancements listed for the SSD's you posted on that website are pretty undeniable, but I'm not sure if I want to drop that much money into a 5 year old laptop :( Between the 100 I paid for it, the 100 it would cost for the RAM, and a minimum of 250 for an SSD w/ enough space for me, I'm thinking I should just give it back and get my $100 back. I'd much rather drop the money into my windows laptop that's only 7 months old, or just hold off and buy a newer mbp off of ebay or something.

Thanks for everyone's help, but between the graphics card and how much more expensive this will than i thought, I think I'm gonna get out of this investment.
 
I have the same MBP as you and I have upgraded to 6gb of memory with no problems at all.

The biggest speed upgrade was replacing my original 5200rpm HD with a SSD. I used that as a boot drive and application drive. I then took out my superdrive and put in a 7200rpm 500gb HD. I use that as my drive for all my music / movies / photos.

All in all, i've squeezed a little more life out of my 5 year old MBP.
 
jdreier said:
I have the same MBP as you and I have upgraded to 6gb of memory with no problems at all.

The biggest speed upgrade was replacing my original 5200rpm HD with a SSD. I used that as a boot drive and application drive. I then took out my superdrive and put in a 7200rpm 500gb HD. I use that as my drive for all my music / movies / photos.

All in all, i've squeezed a little more life out of my 5 year old MBP.
Click to expand...

Well, if this were my only computer, this would definitely convince me to give this all a shot, but this was more of a toy/project than anything else so this seems like a waste of money :(
 
I'm just jumping on this thread since I know a new one would be slightly repetitive.

I have a 2007 MBP, 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, 200GB HD, running OSX 10.4.11.

Being that this computer is going on five years - is it worth it to start sinking money in it to upgrade? I initially made the switch to Apple because I was expecting a more reliable, and professional machine.

It is my main (only) machine. It is used for everything from email to watching TV on the internet, but my main need is that this is the machine I use to run my 2004 Adobe Creatve Suite. Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver are the main programs. Used to have to use Flash, and AfterEffects, but not recently. I do not play any games on here so any graphics needs are purely those associated with Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.

I experienced the 8600M GT Video Card failure and had a new one put in summer 2010. I also replaced the battery at this time. The only physical issues it has currently is that it runs pretty hot if I am working on it, I think the optical drive is dying - it reads certain disks, but not all - it also runs fairly loud initially as well. Also, I am pretty sure I am in need of a memory upgrade since I only got the 2GB.

Still running Tiger on this machine, which really only affects internet based things like ability to run flash, use Chrome (Firefox is terrible on my computer as well but it could just be the user).

I just want to know if there is anyone out there running with the same machine and what the costs would be to make this machine current, and last a little longer. My main reason I would like for this computer to keep on is that I already have the full Adobe suite for it - to switch to windows would not only be the cost of a computer but that thrown on top of it. The cost of a new Mac is way out of my range right now. I just don't know if it would be a waste to fix this one up, or if I should just start saving and watching for a steady model on the refurb market.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thank you.

edit**
also - for those of you that upgrade - do you do the upgrades yourself (i am assuming yes) or have them done by "professionals"
 
I'm running the same mbp at 4 gb ram and a 320 gb 7200 rpm western digital hard drive running 10.6. I did all the upgrading myself. The ram was easy. The hard drive is more difficult, but ifixit guides explain how to do it. Wasn't that hard, just a lot of screws to keep track of. Works great!
 
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